New housing policy aimed at developers

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September 12 2006 at 10:27AM

The government is putting the final touches to measures that will force all property developers to include a percentage of lower and middle income housing units in their plans.

Addressing the two-day KwaZulu-Natal housing summit at the International Convention Centre in Durban on Monday, Housing MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu said all housing MECs would meet soon to finalise the percentages of these units to be factored into all housing developments.

Mabuyakhulu said the aim of the policy was to eradicate the distortions caused by apartheid town planners in the provision of housing.

The new housing policy, to be known as the Inclusionary Housing System, would see rich, middle- and low-income earners living side by side.

Deliver affordable housing
Mabuyakhulu said the plan sought to use the power and capacity of private sector developers to deliver affordable housing while delivering housing for the middle to higher ends of the property spectrum.

This would be done by requiring developers of projects above a certain size to provide a proportion of units in the form of affordable housing.

Mabuyakhulu said the government was also considering methods to encourage the private sector to play a more active role in providing housing.

He said the summit also needed to look at how it could encourage a variety of housing options, including company-assisted housing schemes.

Mabuyakhulu announced the government was also intensifying measures aimed at arresting the mushrooming of slums in urban areas.

The Prevention of the Re-emergence of Slums Act was being drafted to prevent those who had been allocated houses from building new slums.

Reacting to a protest on Monday by the slum dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, Mabuyakhulu said: “We do understand their plight, but there is no way the government would be able to eradicate slums in one year. Slums are a legacy of apartheid.”

o This article was originally published on page 2 of The Mercury on September 12, 2006